


Absent

by Victoria_Sapphire



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Angst with a sad ending, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Pedophilia, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Parties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 13:12:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16086806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Victoria_Sapphire/pseuds/Victoria_Sapphire
Summary: Dipper Pines is dead. Or, at least, he thinks he is. This was denied when he turns into a demon, Alcor the Dreambender. He observes healthy sibling relationships, and slowly realizes how unhealthy the relationship between he and Mabel was. He doesn't try to contact her at all, effectively erasing Mizar from the picture.Mabel Pines is devastated. Her brother died during the Transcendence, an event proceeding Weirdmageddon, spreading Gravity Falls' weirdness all around the globe. She gets herself into trouble after being diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety.





	Absent

**Author's Note:**

> I thought about this, and this idea came to mind: What if Dipper didn't reveal himself as Dipper in the Drift AU, and he lived his life without Mabel? What would happen? And I came up with this chain reaction, so here ya go!

Dipper was aware of one thing: pain. He could barely feel that he was curled around himself in a puddle of his own blood on the charred grass. As his vision was slowly dissipating, he saw that his skin was a gruesome black. Various bones stuck out of his arms. He could barely hear Mabel’s screaming as he faded in and out of consciousness. 

Dipper was made vaguely aware of running, screaming, fire, and laughter, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source. His chest swelled with panic before he slipped into a sleep from which he never woke up completely.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Dipper was confused. He was supposed to be dead, wasn’t he? Then why did he feel this empty, hollow feeling? He wriggled his fingers. He realized he could move again after performing such an action. He jerked his arm back. 

Dipper took a look at the appendage that used to be charred black. It was now the same, fleshy tone it used to be, although a little transparent. He wrinkled his eyebrows. He wasn’t a ghost, was he? He sat up, trying to put his hands on the ground, but his palm phased through the ground. 

Dipper bolted upright. He looked beneath himself. He was hovering above the ground. He was aware of his mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins wouldn’t let him rest. Below him, he saw the puddle of blood he’d been laying in and the charred grass. 

But his body wasn’t there.

Mabel was on her knees, hands pressed against her face. Grunkle Stan was patting her on the back. Wendy’s eyes were wide with shock. Soos was sobbing uncontrollably. Great Uncle Ford kept his eyes on the unblackened ground at his feet. 

Mabel turned around, obviously fearful of looking at her brother’s bodily fluids. She rubbed her sweater sleeves against her eyes. Her body shook with tears. Grunkle Stan had her wrapped up in a hug again. She returned it, bawling into the older man’s stomach.

Dipper’s throat went dry. He had caused this scene before him. This could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t tried to use the counterspell. It had obviously backfired on him, seeing as he was in his current condition. He began to panic. He couldn’t leave Mabel alone, but he couldn’t contact his sister.

At least, that’s what he gathered from his observations. 

Dipper began to float upward. His heart thudded in his chest. He couldn’t bear to stay next to his sister anymore than he had to.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dipper spent the last few weeks watching over his family and trying to figure out what had happened to him. The only thing he really remembered clearly about his eventual demise was that his counterspell backfired.

Or did it? It fixed Weirdmageddon, that much was for certain.

But it wasn’t supposed to kill anyone, and Dipper died when he used it. 

A shiver ran down his spine. He didn’t want to think about it too much. He’d already pondered it far too much the past three weeks.

Dipper turned his attention back to Mabel. She was laying on her bed at their home in Piedmont, California; she’d gone back two days after Weirdmageddon, the eventual death of her twin, and when Stan had to call and inform Mark and Anna Pines of her twin brother’s death.

Mabel clutched the pillow close to her stomach. She was blasting Melanie Martinez (a first for her; she normally didn’t listen to anything except the entire “Lucky Star” anime soundtrack and eighties music) from her phone. The pink walls had been covered with pieces of paper torn out of one of her many empty sketchbooks. One sat at her feet.

If he could interact with the physical plane, Dipper would’ve nudged it closer to his sister and urged her to draw something, anything at all. He balled his hands into fists. He slammed his fist against the wall, taking the first remnant of solace he’d had for a while and increasing it tremendously at the fact no one could hear him banging against the walls.

Mabel rubbed her face with her sleeve. She hadn’t knitted anything in the past couple weeks, ever since Dipper’s gorey demise. He wished he could wrap her up in a hug, but he knew it didn’t work like that; he’d receded back into the Mindscape for whatever reason.

Anna Pines walked into the room, holding a tray of freshly-baked cookies.

“I baked you snickerdoodles,” she said. She wafted the scent of snickerdoodles toward her eldest daughter and added, “They’re your favorite."

“It’s not the same without Dipper here,” Mabel grumbled. She folded in even farther on herself. 

Dipper wished he could reach out a hand and help her, but he knew it wasn’t so.

Anna frowned and backed out of the room. “If you want cookies, they’re in the kitchen. You know where to get them,” she informed.

Mabel nodded and responded, “Mmm-hmm.”

She curled around herself again, and she clutched the pillow against her once more. She laid on her back and put on the song “Tag, You’re It”. Mabel let out an anguished screech.

Dipper couldn’t take it anymore. He swooped down and wrapped her up in a hug. Mabel didn’t react in the slightest. His hopes that she could see him were crushed into smithereens immediately. He had hoped that she would at least notice some form of his presence.

Instead, she sobbed harder.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dipper had been watching over Ford as he continued on his adventures in the Antarctic Ocean when he noticed the changes taking hold. He’d been chewing his lip in anticipation as Ford tried to capture a ningen baby when his tooth pierced through his bottom lip. His heart skipped in fear.

Dipper removed his teeth from his lip, and the blood that came out had golden yellow droplets in it. His heart lodged in his throat. His breathing quickened. He took in gulps of air he didn’t need.

Dipper began panicking. He didn’t know what to do in this situation. He leaned over to see his reflection in the icy waters. He bared his teeth and saw that they were trying to sharpen. He stumbled back, his hands tangled in his hair. He pressed his back against the railing. He briefly debated what it would be like if he jumped off the railing.

He didn’t enact his thoughts.

He instead tried to distract himself with watching Ford catch, tag, and take notes on the baby ningen he’d caught.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dipper had gone back to Mabel for a while, and he watched his family. Mark Pines, his father, was working. He stocked the shelves of his thrift shop. Anna had already left for her new job at a factory (the bills were getting to be too much for them to be able to pay with the money made from the thrift store alone, so she had to get a job).

Dipper watched as Mabel made her way to their local middle school. She leaned against the wall, keeping her eyes on her shoes. Her demeanor had noticeably changed. She wasn’t bubbly and happy anymore; instead, she was quiet, reserved, and sad all the time.

Dipper didn’t know how to help. If he did, he would’ve done something by now. Mabel kept her hand in her pocket. He could tell she was trying not to cry. Eventually, the floodgates broke, and she started crying softly. He knew that she didn’t have any friends here; according to her, the only friend she needed was _him_ , and now that he was dead (or something…), she didn’t have any left. 

_Apart from Candy and Grenda_ , Dipper reminded himself.

He followed his sister throughout the school day. He didn’t notice his teeth coming loose.


End file.
